Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday efforts to include “terror groups like the (Syrian Kurdish) YPG” militia among the opposition in Syrian peace talks was very risky and would undermine the process.
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The U.N. special envoy to Syria has sent invitations to participants, a statement said on Tuesday, without confirming the names.
The conflict in Syria has been raging since early 2011 and has led to the deaths of more than 250,000 people and driven more than 10 million from their homes, according to the UN. He said invitations would go out Tuesday, but declined to specify his criteria about deciding who receives them. While the Syrian government, having gained momentum with the help of Russian air power, has said that it will attend the talks, the official opposition delegation has been wary.
It has emerged that a group of opposition figures seen as close to Moscow had been asked to attend – a move that will do little to dispel accusations that the United States has kowtowed to the demands of Syria and Russian Federation.
Moscow has sought to have some of those excluded participate in the talks either within a broad opposition delegation, or in a second opposition delegation to the negotiations.
“Our advice to the Syrian opposition is to take advantage of this opportunity to put the intentions of the regime to the test and to expose in front of global public opinion which are the parties serious in reaching a political settlement in Syria and which are not”, he said.
As one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia “like others can contribute to the peace process”, he said, “but we expect Russia to respect Syrian civilians and… not to push Syrian civilians towards Turkish border”.
Wrangling over who will represent Syria’s opposition has already forced the start of the talks to be delayed from Monday. But the opposition has been increasingly critical of USA policy.
Speaking to AFP at the venue in a luxury Riyadh hotel, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Monzer Makhous, said the talks could last “perhaps all day”.
France has been a key backer of moderate opposition forces battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has been advising them on how to prepare for the Geneva talks. He said: “We want to make sure that when and if we start, to start at least on the right foot”.
They agreed to negotiate with the regime but insisted Assad step down at the start of any political transition.
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The last time peace talks were held in Geneva two years ago they collapsed within weeks after it became clear the government was not willing to offer any concessions to opposition demands for an end to Assad’s rule.
